Heat exchanger header

ABSTRACT

A tube and header plate heat exchanger having a header and a header plate or tube sheet with the header having sides with lugs extending therefrom engaging the top and bottom surfaces of the header plate and holding it in position against movement either from side to side or up and down preparatory to permanently joining the plate and header.

United States Patent 1191 Foster Mar. 12, 1974 HEAT EXCHANGER HEADER1,831,337 11 1931 Bennett 165 161 x Inventor: o g s E. oster, RacineWis. 3,223,154 12/1965 'Goebel 165/158 Assigneel Moqine Mfmufadul'ing py Primary Examiner-Charles J. Myhre Racine, W1s. AssistantExaminer-Theophil W. Streule, Jr. 22 Filed: Jan. 17 1972 Attorney,Agent, or Firm-H0fgl6ll, Wegner, Allen,

Stellman & McCord I [21] App1.No.: 218,176

I [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. 165/76, 285/137 R, 285/189,

165/151 113/118 R 29/1574 A tube and header plate heat exchanger havinga 51 Int. Cl. F28b 9/04 header and a header Plate tube Sheet with the[58 Field 61 Search 165/70, 76, 158-161, header having Sides with 8extending therefrom 165/153 '154, g 149, 151, 285/158, 41 gaging the topand bottom surfaces of the header plate and holding it in positionagainst movement either [56] R f s Cited from side to side or up anddown preparatory to per- UNITED STATES PATENTS manently joining theplate and header. 2,168,549 8/1939 Young 165/151 51 Claims, 3 DrawingFigures HEAT EXCHANGER HEADER One of the features of this invention isto provide an improved tube and header heat exchanger wherein portionson the header function to engage the header plate, also identified as atube sheet, for positioning the plate properly and thus the tubes heldthereby with respect to the remainder of the header.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description of one embodiment as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. Of the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tube and header heat exchanger embodying theinvention with portions omitted for clarity of illustration.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view taken substantially from theright-hand side of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantiallyalong line 33 of FIG. 2.

In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings the heat exchangercomprises a header plate mounting in the form of a header 11 having apair of spaced and parallel sides 12 extending from a flat base 13 atthe sides thereof.

Each of the sides 12 has been provided, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3,with lug portion means comprising two sets of lugs with one setincluding a pair of lugs 14 adjacent the ends of its side 12 as shown inFIG. 2 and the other set of lugs including a single lug 15 positionedabout midway between the lugs 14 in the first set. As indicated in FIG.3 the lugs 14 and 15 in the two sets are struck from the side 12 andextend inwardly of the header 11. These lugs 14 and 15 in the two setsare spaced apart a distance so as to snugly grasp the opposite flatsides of a header plate 16. This header plate retains the spaced tubesindicated at 17 that are adapted to contain one flowing fluid for heatexchange with another fluid surrounding the tubes all in the customarymanner.

In the illustrated embodiment fluid flow paths including the tubes 17are also defined by small header tanks 18, 19 and 20. These tanks aresmall or miniature tanks each enclosing a small number of the tube endsillustrated at 21 that extend above the base 13. Thus the small headertank 18 which is connected to an inlet pipe 22 encloses the ends of twoadjacent tubes 17 for directing fluid from the pipe 22 into and downthrough the pair of tubes. The intermediate tank 19 encloses the ends offour of the tubes 17 because in this embodiment the fluid flowing inthrough the inlet pipe 22 is directed in two parallel paths. The end oroutlet tank again encloses two of the tubes 17 ends and is itselfconnected to an outlet pipe 23 for flow of fluid from the heatexchanger. The opposite end (not shown) of the heat exchanger isprovided with small header tanks similar to the tanks 18, 19 and 20 forcompleting the fluid circuit which as stated in the illustratedembodiment is in two parallel paths in which two sets of tubes 17 areconnected in series by these tanks.

As can be seen from the above description the improved tube and headerheat exchanger of this invention provides a simple, inexpensive yetsecure means including the two sets of lugs 14 and 15 for positioningthe header plate 16 properly with relation to the header 1 1 and thusthe tubes 17 with relation to the header and to the miniature headertanks l8, l9 and 20 mounted on the outer surface of the heat exchangerbase 13.

Having described my invention as related to the embodiment shown in theaccompanying drawings, it is my intention that the invention be notlimited by any of the details of description, unless otherwisespecified, but rather be construed broadly within its spirit and scopeas set out in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A heat exchanger header plate and mounting structure comprising: atube retainer header plate having opposite surfaces; a header platemounting having a pair of spaced sides; and a plate securing means onsaid sides comprising cooperating inturned lugs with lugs of each sidebeing widely spaced apart in a direction parallel to said surfaces andspaced apart perpendicularly to said surfaces a distance preselected tocause said lugs to snugly grasp said opposite surfaces of said headerplate at preselected widely spaced positions for holding said headerplate in said mounting.

2. The plate and mounting structure of claim 1 wherein said lugs areintegral with said sides.

3. The plate and mounting structure of claim 1 wherein said header platemounting comprises a base extending substantially parallel to saidheader plate, said sides extending from said base at opposite edgesthereof.

4. The plate and mounting structure of claim 1 wherein said lugs on eachsaid side are substantially symmetrically located with respect to saidside.

5. The plate and mounting structure of claim 1 wherein two lugs on oneside are located one each adjacent to the opposite ends of said side andone lug on said side is located substantially midway between said twolugs.

1. A heat exchanger header plate and mounting structure comprising: atube retainer header plate having opposite surfaces; a header platemounting having a pair of spaced sides; and a plate securing means onsaid sides comprising cooperating inturned lugs with lugs of each sidebeing widely spaced apart in a direction parallel to said surfaces andspaced apart perpendicularly to said surfaces a distance preselected tocause said lugs to snugly grasp said opposite surfaces of said headerplate at preselected widely spaced positions for holding said headerplate in said mounting.
 2. The plate and mounting structure of claim 1wherein said lugs are integral with said sides.
 3. The plate andmounting structure of claim 1 wherein said header plate mountingcomprises a base extending substantially parallel to said header plate,said sides extending from said base at opposite edges thereof.
 4. Theplate and mounting structure of claim 1 wherein said lugs on each saidside are substantially symmetrically located with respect to said side.5. The plate and mounting structure of claim 1 wherein two lugs on oneside are located one each adjacent to the opposite ends of said side andone lug on said side is located substantially midway between said twolugs.